An interdisciplinary approach is needed

On Friday 14 October 2016, the “Bright Food Solutions, Better Life” symposium for researchers and stakeholders in the field of food, was organized by Future Food Utrecht.

At this meeting several world renowned (inter)national speakers shared their vision on how science can tackle the global food challenges. The symposium was intended as an broad academic gathering for national food researchers, students and other stakeholders working in the food sector.The goal of the symposium was to bring all these groups together and stimulate the sharing of ideas that might lead to establish cooperation between them. The common interest of all the key note speakers and audience was the fascinating world of food and the future challenges ahead of us.

About 180 participants convened in the Pangea room of the Victor J. Koningsberger building at the Utrecht University campus. The symposium started with an opening by Professor Rens Voesenek, leader of Future Food Utrecht, followed by a welcome speech of the President of the Executive Board of Utrecht University, mr. Marjan Oudeman. She underlined the important role for the university’s research focus areas, like Future Food Utrecht, to increase interdisciplinary collaboration and to contribute to solving societal problems.

The consumer
The academic contributions started with Professor Rob Hammer (R&D, Unilever), who addressed the love and hate relationship of the consumer with food and the overarching challenges we will need to face to change the current food system into a more sustainable and trustable one. FoodNexus, an European Consortium, chaired by Hamer and in which Future Food Utrecht participates, has submitted a proposal to the European Institute of Technology (EIT) to work together on those challenges.

In the following session, Dr. Gerda Feunekes, Director of the Netherlands Nutrition Centre (Voedingscentrum), underlined the waning trust by consumers to which Professor Hamer referred to in his talk and the increasingly amount of, not always correct, information that consumers have to sort out in order to make the day to day food decisions.

Paschal Sheeran, Professor Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina, presented recent trial’s results of his research team regarding eating behavior interventions to answer questions like: How to motivate changes in eating behavior? And: How can motivation be used to change eating behavior? Dr. Marieke Adriaanse, Associate professor at the Department of Social Health and Organizational Psychology, Utrecht University, underlined the relevance of conducting research into the reasons for eating, in order to be able to design effective interventions, like the ones Sheeran mentioned in his key note.

From water proof rice to smart farming
Professor Julia Bailey-Serres from the University of California and special professor at Utrecht University explained the development of a strain of rice that is tolerant of flooding and that is currently grown in large areas of Asia and Africa.

Arjan Stegeman, Professor Farm Animal Health, introduced the participants to the dilemmas en issues related to animal health challenges in sustainable livestock production. He concluded his lecture addressing the possible novel set of solutions needed to tackle these challenges, like resilience in animal populations, smart farming and improved disease prevention strategies.

Prevention of diseases and the role of nutrition
The presentations that followed focused on the health aspects of food and its effects on the prevention of diseases. Johan Garssen, Professor Immunopharmacology at Utrecht University and Director of the Immunology Platform at Nutricia Research shared his insights and research results regarding the potential effects of dietary intervention on immune regulation and the impact on Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, allergies, diabetes and asthma; which are the biggest causes of death worldwide according to the World Health Organization. Renger Witkamp, Professor Nutrition and Pharmacology at Wageningen University, explained how important it is to understand what health is in order to manage it efficiently and how it benefits from nutrition.

Time is running out
The plenary discussion was chaired by Paul Schnabel, University Professor at Utrecht University. The discussion voiced the urgent need for an interdisciplinary approach to the current food problems posed by all speakers. Close collaboration between research disciplines and other stakeholders of the food chain is needed; and this is just what Future Food Utrecht aims at: creating a research community that serves as an unique breeding ground for interdisciplinary food research innovations.